Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7-13, 16-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Layland (US 7923668 B2). Examiner has provided an annotated version of Layland as an appendix with highlighting in the spec and wording on Fig. 17A in the previous office action.
Regarding Claims 11-13, 16-19, and 22, Layland discloses (largely in Fig. 17a):
11. An aircraft comprising:
a propulsion system including a nacelle (1000) having an inlet cowl (800), wherein the inlet cowl comprises an acoustic layer (120) coupled to an ice protection system, wherein the ice protection system comprises:
heating layer (14) including perforations (30) extending from a first surface to a second surface opposite from the first surface, wherein the perforations provide acoustic paths, wherein the heating layer is configured to provide (via attachment at 80) electrically resistive heating to nacelle, and wherein the heating layer comprises:
a dielectric layer (60/62);
a conductive heater (50) coupled to the dielectric layer; and
a first film (82, 182, “adhesive material 82 may be strips of FM-300 epoxy adhesive film”; Col 14 Line 38) disposed over the conductive heater.
12. The aircraft of claim 11, wherein the perforations extend to the acoustic layer (“through entire thickness of the heater”; Col 12 Line 42).
13. The aircraft of claim 12, wherein the heating layer overlays (see Fig. 17A) at least a portion of the acoustic layer.
16. The aircraft of claim 15, wherein the dielectric layer comprises fiberglass (“glass fabric”; Col 14 Line 28).
17. The aircraft of claim 15, wherein the first film is a nickel chemical vapor deposition film (“nickel coated graphite fiber”; see other publications at the end of page 2)
18. The aircraft of claim 15, wherein the perforations extend through the dielectric layer, the conductive heater, and the one first film (See Fig. 15, and “through entire thickness of the heater”; Col 12 Line 42).
19. The aircraft of claim 15, wherein the dielectric layer, the conductive heater, and the first film are laminated together (“laminated composite construction of a heater portion”; Col 13 Line 15).
22. (New) The aircraft of claim 11, further comprising a second film (184) disposed over the heating layer.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7-10 and 21 are rejected using the same elements from Layland as mapped above.
Regarding Claim 20, Layland further discloses a method of forming perforations (“openings 30 may be formed by mechanical drilling”; Col 16 Line 40) and coupling (1310) the heating layer to the acoustic layer.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Layland as applied to claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Maheshwari (US 8549832 B2). Layland teaches using carbon fibers (“carbon-based material such as graphite fibers”; Col 13 Line 44). Maheshwari teaches a similar heater for a nacelle (30) with carbon nanotubes (“nonwoven textile (NWT) or woven textile (WT) of carbon nanotubes”; Col 5 Line 9-11). At the time of filing it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the graphite fibers of Layland as carbon nanotubes in view of the teaching of Maheshwari. The motivation for doing so would have been greater thermal output as taught by Maheshwari in Col 5 Line 47.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Page 5 Lines 11-13, filed 09/03/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) amended claims 1, 11, and 20 under 102(a)(1) to Layland have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Layland. The examiner mixed up elements 82 and 40 which are both in Fig. 17A. Element 82 is now being used in the rejection above. As explained 82 is an adhesive strip in the form of a film. Further in Fig. 17B, 182 and 184 is a film on both sides of the heater.
Applicant’s arguments regarding the nickel deposition at the end of Page 5 are not found persuasive. Layland incorporates a reference R.E. Evans, D.E. Hall and B.A. Luxon, Nickel Coated Graphite Fiber Conductive Composites, SAMPE Quarterly, vol. 17, No. 4, Jul. 1986. This is listed at the end of the references cited.
The newly amended claims 4 and 14 directed to carbon nanotubes are now rejected under 103 with a newly cited reference.
Conclusion
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/BRIAN M O'HARA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3642